the timboucher experience

Found another article about a cool Central American folk saint. His name is El Nino Fidencio, and he was active as a healer in Mexico in the 1920’s & 30’s.

Fidencio is not recognized as a saint by the Vatican. He gained an early reputation for faith healing and clairvoyance and won fame throughout Mexico for his playful and unorthodox cures for a range of maladies including cancer and lameness.

He diagnosed the sick by rocking them on a swing in the village, and sometimes lobbed pieces of fruit at them from a rooftop to cure them. Other whimsies included curative country walks, elaborate religious stage shows, and ducking followers in a murky pond behind his single-story adobe home.

Here is another good article about Fidencio. He sounds really cool.

Humorous accounts exist of some of El Niño’s cures. For instance, he is said to have cured a mute by making him stand in front of a swing. El Niño rocked in the swing and bumped into the man repeatedly. The man grew so furious that he found the voice that had eluded him for several years.

And here is an article on Beliefnet about his worship. Also check out these related posts:

1. Corte Malandra, the “Gangster’s Pantheon” (Venezuela)
2. La Santisima Muerte, “St. Death” (Mexico)

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